Marvel fans have gone truly wild over Willem Dafoe Green Goblin performances in Spider-Man: No Way Home, with claims that in eight minutes, he overshadowed even Thanos. These gubernatorial discussions have gone so heated online with players split on the issue of whether the iconic villain really was greater than Josh Brolin’s Mad Titan.
An original tweet said: “8 minutes of screen time and he ATE every other Marvel villain, yes even Thanos.” The statement is rather bold; the outgoing tweet made it to thousands of retweets with passionate counter-arguments by other Marvel gamers.
Norman Osborn’s chilling return, said one user, “eerily scary bordering on horror.” Another said Dafoe is a “generational talent”; there is much discussion and back-and-forth in the replies about his chill-inducing line, “Can the Spider-Man come out to play.”
Some do not accept the usuance ‘Greater than Thanos.’ Some contended: “Not even close to Thanos,” while others replied, “Not Thanos. But I think they were good in their own ways.” The argument then went on with one user noting, “Thanos was overrated,” in defense of Dafoe.
To make the argument even more heated is the fact that the Green Goblin is traditionally an MCU outsider. Here, a gamer commented, “He’s not even originally from the MCU. That especially has to piss Disney off,” yet there was no denying his impact on No Way Home, with many ranking him as the major highlight of the multiverse expedition.
Then this particular argumentatrophied into hilarious exchanges as to whether or not it was really just eight minutes. One claimed, “There’s no way it was only 8 minutes.” To which one other came back with: “The arrival at Happy’s apartment to the end of the fight should be more than 8 minutes alone.”
Green Goblin stood out beyond the interface by being the biggest villain to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. A resounding response went: “He wanted to make the new Spider-Man a killer like him, corrupt him with hatred.” This implied Dafoe’s fierce fight and crazy act that put it in many people’s eyes as the best villain act in the MCU.
Curiously enough, the debate expanded beyond Marvel’s villains, including ones claiming that Dafoe’s performance was on par or even better than the legendary DC villains like the Joker. That called attention to whether more portrayals of the classic ones by the older generation versus the recent ones by the younger generation are needed.
On the other side is the ever-continuing debate about whether Dafoe’s character may be considered better than Thanos or not. However, the debate brings out the point that sometimes, more than the amount, the quality of the appearances of memorable villains can weigh. And with the documented excitement for rumored multiverse shenanigans, this fan-favorite villain might prove to be a long-lasting one.
